Portman said in a conference call with reporters today that the legislation is not perfect but his successful amendment that broadens religious exemptions to the act improves it.

“And I do believe in the underlying premise of this legislation which is that people should not face discrimination because of who they are, basically. I talked on the floor yesterday that it should be based on qualifications, based on work performance, based on your experience, not whether you’re gay or not.”

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, would bar employers with 15 or more workers from using a person's sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for making employment decisions.

Portman’s amendment prevents federal, state and local governments from retaliating against religious groups that are exempt from the law.

The Senate voted Wednesday to end debate on the bill and bring it to a final vote.

Schwebel's moving out of Cuyahoga FallsThe smell of baking bread could be a thing of the past in Cuyahoga Falls. Schwebel Baking Co. is planning to shut down its facility near route 8 and transfer most of the roughly 140 employees to the company’s Solon plant, according to the Beacon Journal.

The Youngstown-based bakery says the Cuyahoga Falls plant is under-utilized and out dated.

The company said today that Cedar Point and Kings Island are on pace for a record year in net revenue.

Attendance is up slightly this year, but spending in the parks is up significantly over a last year.

The company with headquarters in Sandusky says preliminary figures through the beginning of November show that 22.7 million people have passed through the gates at its parks.

Cedar Fair owns more than a dozen amusement parks and water parks around the country, along with a handful of hotels.

Muslims fight for workplace prayer breaksA Muslim civil rights group said Thursday it has filed federal complaints over the firing of 24 workers in a dispute over prayer breaks at a DHL Global Mail facility in northern Kentucky.

The Cincinnati chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the employees were terminated last month. The group said the employees had been using their break times for regular evening prayer. It said an apparent change by managers on the flexible break policy led to the conflict.

The group said it has complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the workers were exercising legally protected religious rights.